How to pack and prepare for an office move?
An office move might start as an exciting decision to make. This can mean that your company is going into a new place with a shiny, new and well-organized office. However, as we know that happens in every moving process, office moving can become an overwhelming task. And this is not only for you, but also for your employees. So, imagine you have found a new place where to locate your office. Now, it comes the time to pack everything for the moving time. Then, how to pack and prepare for an office move? Here, we’ll show you some tips.
Hire a moving crew
You need to make sure you will hire the best office moving service. In a city like Chicago, there is no need to say that there might be many moving companies offering you, their services. However, before hiring one, you need to consider some important points.
For example: flexibility (whether they can adapt to your schedules), fee structure (how they quote their services), services included (what does their services included, whether it is only packing or also moving), and reviews and reliability (always check on their former customers to know what they thought of the service provided).
Create an inventory list
This part is key for your office move. You might have hired packed moving services in Chicago. But, even if you have done so, you still need to keep track on the things that you plan to move in your office. In this way you can be sure that everything that needs to be moved, will be moved. So, you can create a digital list and a have a hard copy for you. Believe us that you’ll be less stress once you know what is being moved.
Secure your things
Of course, when you hire a moving and packing company, you can expect that they will take good care of all your belongings and office supplies. However, unexpected things can happen anytime. To not get caught by that, always make sure you that you have all the office documents secure.
By that, we mean that, what if a laptop or any other tech gets ruined, you need to ensure hard-copy files with a trusted employee, or make sure all your business information is hand-delivered with someone. Then, you can prevent loss or misplacement of information.
Declutter your space before
When working, you might not know, but many things are in storage by you or your employees. Many papers, old machinery or similar is in your office that does not need to be relocated into the new office. So, it is better that before the packing service takes place, you start sorting everything that needs to be thrown. Once you created a “trash pile”, you can decide whether you are going to really trash them, sell or donate. Then, you will notice how much easy the moving task will become.
Announce the move
When you decide to move your office or business from one place to another, it is also important for you to not only pay attention to the material stuff of the place. Your business, any type of it, does not depend only on things like computers, chairs, desks and similar. In fact, your workers are also involved and are often the core part of your business.
So, when you have hired the appropriate commercial moving service in Chicago, now you need to let them know about the big move. There are many ways you can decide to make the announcement (by detailed email, newsletter segment, town hall presentation or brief videos). Regardless how you decide to make tell them about this process, you need to be comprehensive and give detailed information about all the steps of your office move.
Likewise, you can also make them feel engaged and involved in the moving process, like giving them a to-do-list. Plus, you can also ask them for advice on what they want the new office to look like. When they feel involved, their productivity level can grow too, and this will turn into good revenues for your company.
Select a cleaning service and cleanup crew
We have established above about the importance of decluttering your space before the move takes place. However, once the place is empty and your things are ready for the office move, there might be some places that will need a deep cleaning. For that, you can hire a cleaning service to do the job. Of course, you can decide to do it yourself, but a professional cleaning service might perform a better cleaning. Plus, what you need to keep in mind is that the cleaner and smoother your old office look, the easier it might be to rent it or sell it to new buyers. You need to find ways to sell up your office, so you can start in a new place with your workers, just focusing on your work.
Do a few recon walks
When you move out from your office, you make sure everything is ready and prepare and that the office moving services Chicago you hired have taken care of everything. However, even the most detail-oriented people may miss some little details. Of course, hiring the best packing services in Chicago can help you with the whole organization of the moving process.
But moving from a home and moving from an office can be two different things. In an office there are other things you can miss, like a giant, permanently affixed company sign, or any kind of massive hole someone left in the drywall. Being in an office involves many people, so there are many things to look at and pay attention.
We recommend you to do a few long, slow walks around the office and take notes about anything that could be easily forgotten. Or you can also choose a few workers to make a team and do these rounds for or with you.
Remember to disconnect all utilities
One thing you may forget when moving out of your office is to disconnect all utilities like phone systems, electricity, internet and water. You and your people may get and install into their new office, and then realize you still need to pay for the utilities of the old building. It will simply be a waste of money from a place you don’t even work anymore! To avoid this inconvenience, you need to make sure everything is disconnected and paid. Remember not to have any kind of debts with anyone. So, you can start over new in the new office. You can also put someone in charge of that if you feel like there are other things you need to focus on. But always remember to ask if it has been done.
